Financial Ombudsman Service sees lowest complaint levels in two years

New cases coming to the Financial Ombudsman Service have returned to complaint volumes last seen in 2023/24 - with figures released today showing it received 47,300 complaints between October and December 2025. 

This is a significantly lower caseload for the impartial dispute resolution service, which is free for consumers, compared to the same quarter last year (2024/25) when it received 68,400 cases.

It also means new cases coming to the service have remained at a steady state for the past six months as in the second quarter of 2025/26 the Financial Ombudsman received 46,300 new complaints.

Several factors have contributed to the lower volumes of cases coming into the service, which resolves disputes between consumers and their financial providers.

Since the introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) complaint handling pause and announced plans for a redress scheme for motor finance commission cases there has been a substantial decrease in those complaints coming to the Financial Ombudsman.

Also, the Financial Ombudsman is undergoing the most significant reform programme for a generation – including the introduction of charges for professional representatives where some, in the past, have brought high numbers of poorly evidenced complaints to the service.

Professional representatives are now bringing better evidenced complaints, and the Financial Ombudsman is seeing fewer withdrawn and abandoned cases. For the 2024/25 financial year, more than a third of complaints from professional representatives were withdrawn and/or abandoned and so far in this financial year (April 2025 to December 2025), this figure stands at 19%.

These representatives are also bringing fewer irresponsible and unaffordable lending cases – between October and December 2025 there were 4,800 new cases compared to 13,200 in the same period the previous year.

James Dipple-Johnstone, Interim Chief Ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, said:  

“We are improving our service to ensure we can help underpin confidence in financial services now and in the future. 

“Following a period of extraordinary demand, our case volumes are returning to a steady state as measures we have implemented ensure the complaints that come to us are better evidenced and ready to be investigated.

“The changes we have already introduced – and those we plan to make in the future – will allow us to focus on getting back to our core purpose for customers as a quick, informal and high-quality dispute resolution system.”

As fewer consumers use professional representatives, more people – including vulnerable consumers – are bringing complaints directly to the Financial Ombudsman, allowing a growing number to retain the full value of any redress awarded.

The service is currently working with HM Treasury and the FCA to modernise the dispute resolution system – ensuring consumers can continue to access a quick, informal and high-quality dispute resolution service. The Financial Ombudsman Service continues to improve its timeliness while maintaining quality in resolving cases.

The latest data set shows that the Financial Ombudsman received just 400 motor finance commission complaints in the third financial period of 2025/26, compared to 14,400 at the same time last year.

This significant drop follows the FCA’s complaint handling pause and its announcement of plans for a redress scheme. Clarity from the Supreme Court has also enabled the Financial Ombudsman to resolve more than 7,000 motor finance complaints in this quarter.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is giving answers on those cases where it is clear there was no unfair relationship between the lender and its customer. As this cohort of cases has not been upheld it has affected the overall uphold rate which was 27% for the quarter – it is 31% across all products when motor finance commission cases are excluded.  

A breakdown of the figures shows which products were the most complained about between October and December 2025. As a comparison, the table below also provides previously published data for the second quarter of 2025/26 and the same period in the last financial year.  The data below is for new complaints brought to the Financial Ombudsman during the relevant period.  

	As reported in Q3 2024/25	As reported in Q2 2025/26	Latest figures - Q3 2025/26
Current accounts	8,800	7,900	8,500
Credit cards	11,000	4,700	5,200
Hire purchase (motor)	16,000	4,900	3,500
Car or motorcycle insurance	3,700	3,200	3,400
Electronic money (e-money accounts)	2,200	2,200	2,500
Other products	26,700	23,400	24,200

 Ends

Please contact the Financial Ombudsman Service media team for more information. Email media.enquiries@financial-ombudsman.org.uk or phone 020 7964 1234.